It’s back-to-school season! Teachers and librarians, check out this long list of great books! They range from picture to young adult, with topics from afro unicorns to witches, and everything in between. To see more books by Black authors released in 2023, go to our New Releases page.
Picture Books
The Artivist
Nikkolas Smith | Kokila | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Locs Not Dreads
Tonya Abari | Chasity Hampton | The Innovation Press | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Wangari Speaks Out*
Wangari Maathai | Laia de Ahumada | Vanina Starkoff | Susan Ouriou | Groundwood Books | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Kicks in the Sky
C.G. Esperanza | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Mama’s Sleeping Scarf
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Joelle Avelino | Knopf Publishing Group | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Ally Baby Can: Be Antiracist
Nyasha Williams | Jade Orlando | HarperCollins | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir | Judith Henderson | Katherine Ahmed | Kids Can Press | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
My Mother Was a Nanny
Laura James | Groundwood Books | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
We Are Afro Unicorns (Afro Unicorn Series)
April Showers | Anthony Conley | Golden Books | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
A Magical Day (Afro Unicorn Series)
April Showers | Anthony Conley | Random House BYR | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Old to Joy
Anita Crawford Clark | Gnome Road Publishing | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
I Am an Antiracist Superhero: With Activities to Help You Be One Too!
Jennifer Nicole Bacon | Letícia Moreno | Bala Kids | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
My Hair Is Like the Sun
St. Clair Detrick-Jules | Tabitha Brown | Chronicle Books | September 12, 2023 | BdBk | Amazon | Bookshop
Prak Fills the House
Donna L. Washington | Lauren Emmons | Holiday House | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Major Taylor: World Cycling Champion
Charles R. Smith | Leo Espinosa | Candlewick | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Bigger Than Me
Erica Simone Turnipseed | Kara Bodegón-Hikino | Caitlyn Dlouhy Books | PB | September 12, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
Jayylen’s Christmas Wish
Lavaille Lavette | David Wilkerson | Golden Books | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Invincible: Fathers and Mothers of Black America
Wade Hudson | E.B. Lewis | Calkins Creek | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
The Walk
Winsome Bingham | E. B. Lewis | Abrams BYR | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
A Walk in the Woods
Nikki Grimes | Jerry Pinkney | Brian Pinkney | Neal Porter Books | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Snowy Mittens: A Winter Adventure (A Let’s Play Outside! Book)
Shauntay Grant | Candice Bradley | Harry N. Abrams | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Where Did Benjamin Go?
Chris Clarkson | Annalise Barber | Abrams BYR | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
I Am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams
Tanisia Moore | Robert Paul Jr. | Scholastic Press | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Legends of Hip-Hop: 2Pac
Pen Ken | Saxton Moore | HarperFestival | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Legends of Hip-Hop: Queen Latifah
Pen Ken | Saxton Moore | HarperFestival | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm
Lesa Cline-Ransome | Kaylani Juanita | Paula Wiseman Books | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Harlem at Four
Dr. Michael Datcher | Frank Morrison | Random House Studio | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Time to Go, Larry
Alison Hawkins | Scholastic/Orchard | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
I’m From
Gary R. Gray Jr. | Oge Mora | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray | September 19, 2023 MG | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Something, Someday
Amanda Gorman | Christian Robinson | Viking BYR | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Ninja Nate
Markette Sheppard | Robert Paul Jr. | S&S/Denene Millner | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Black Girls
Dominique Furukawa | Erika Lynne Jones | HarperCollins | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
See You on the Other Side
Rachel Montez Minor | Mariyah Rahman | Crown BYR | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King
Alice Faye Duncan | R. Gregory Christie | Calkins Creek | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Abolition Is Love
Syrus Marcus Ware | Alannah Fricker | Triangle Square | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Chapter/Middle-Grade
Maxie Wiz and the Magic Charms
Michelle Meadows | Sawyer Cloud | Random House BYR | September 5, 2023 | Early Reader | Amazon | Bookshop
Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich | Lydia Mba | Balzer + Bray | September 5, 2023 | Early Reader | Amazon | Bookshop
The Gold Bowl (Rainbow Days, Bk. 2)
Valerie Bolling | Kai Robinson | Scholastic | September 5, 2023 | Early Reader | Amazon | Bookshop
Finch House
Ciera Burch | Margaret K. McElderry Books | September 5, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Mascot
Charles Waters | Traci Sorell | Charlesbridge | September 5, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Nightmare King
Daka Hermon | Scholastic Press | September 5, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Who Was Accused in the Salem Witch Trials?: Tituba
Insha Fitzpatrick | Who HQ | Rowan MacColl | Penguin Workshop | September 5, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
The Trailblazing Life of Viola Desmond: A Civil Rights Icon
Rachel Kehoe | Wanda Robson | Chelsea Charles | Orca Book Publishers | MG | September 12, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
Ten-Word Tiny Tales to Inspire and Unsettle
Joseph Coelho | Various Artists | Candlewick | September 12, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
Weekend & Zay
RaQia Lowo | Christian Paniagua | Reycraft Books | September 12, 2023 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
Micah Hudson: Football Fumble
Tanisia Moore | Aeron Cargill | Reycraft Books | September 12, 2023 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
Rick Riordan Presents: Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem
Roseanne A. Brown | Rick Riordan Presents | September 12, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Slavery and the African American Story (Race to the Truth)
Patricia Williams Dockery | Crown Books for Young Readers | September 12, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Recipe for Success (Love Puppies #4)
JaNay Brown-Wood | Scholastic | September 19, 2023 | ChBk | Amazon | Bookshop
Kin: Rooted in Hope
Carole Boston Weatherford | Jeffery Boston Weatherford | Atheneum BYR | September 19, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans
Isi Hendrix | Balzer + Bray | September 19, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Welcome Home, Anna Hibiscus!
Atinuke | Lauren Tobia | Candlewick | September 26, 2023 | ChBk | Amazon | Bookshop
Merry Christmas, Anna Hibiscus!
Atinuke | Lauren Tobia | Candlewick | September 26, 2023 | ChBk | Amazon | Bookshop
The Memory Thieves (A Conjuror Novel, Bk. 2)
Dhonielle Clayton | Henry Holt BYR | September 26, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Salsa Magic
Letisha Marrero | Levine Querido | September 26, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
The Longest Night in Egypt (The Shadow Prince #2)
Tu Books | Lee & Low Books | September 26, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Rayleigh Mann in the Company of Monsters
Ciannon Smart | HarperCollins | September 26, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Alex Wise vs. the End of the World
Terry J Benton-Walker | Labyrinth Rd/PRH | September 26, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
Susie King Taylor: Nurse, Teacher & Freedom Fighter
Erica Armstrong Dunbar | Candace Buford | Aladdin | September 26, 2023 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop
All Systems Whoa (Abby in Orbit, Bk. 3)
Andrea J. Loney | Fuuji Takashi | Albert Whitman & Company | September 28, 2023 | Chp Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
Young Adult
There’s No Way I’d Die First
Lisa Springer | Delacorte | September 5, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Everyone’s Thinking It
Aleema Omotoni | Balzer + Bray | September 5, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Monstrous
Jessica Lewis | Delacorte Press | September 12, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Goddess Crown
Shade Lapite | Walker Books US | September 12, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Shadow Coven (The Witchery, Book 2)
S. Isabelle | Scholastic Press | September 19, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
All the Fighting Parts
Hannah V. Sawyerr | Amulet Books | September 19, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
A Crown So Cursed (The Nightmare-Verse)
L.L. McKinney | Feiwel & Friends | September 19, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Nubia: The Reckoning
Omar Epps | Clarence A. Haynes | Delacorte Press | September 26, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Thieves’ Gambit
Kayvion Lewis | Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books | September 26, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
The Changing Man
Tomi Oyemakinde | Feiwel & Friends | September 26, 2023 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
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